Jewish Heritage Month

Celebrate Canadian Jewish Heritage Month by choosing one of our recommended reads. For all ages.

Updated April 22, 2025
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1

Nothing the same, everything haunted : the ballad of Motl the cowboy
Barwin, Gary
Paper Book
A middle-aged Jewish man who fantasizes about being a cowboy goes on an eccentric quest across Europe after the 1941 Nazi invasion of Lithuania in this wild and witty yet heartrending novel from the bestselling author of Yiddish for Pirates, shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize....

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author

2

La carte postale : roman
Berest, Anne
Paper Book

En 2003, l'ecrivaine recoit une carte postale anonyme sur laquelle sont notes les prenoms des grands-parents de sa mere, de sa tante et de son oncle, morts a Auschwitz en 1942. Elle enquete pour decouvrir l'auteur de cette missive et plonge dans l'histoire de sa famille maternelle, les Rabinovitch, et de sa grand-mere Myriam qui a echappe a la deportation.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

3

The postcard
Berest, Anne
Paper Book
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR TIME Magazine・NPR・Library Journal・The Globe and Mail・Lilith・Forward Magazine・Toronto Star・The New Yorker Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest...

Also available in eBook or eAudiobook formats.

4

You are not what we expected
Ludwig, Sidura
Paper Book
This stunningly intimate collection of stories is an exquisite portrait of a Jewish community--the secular and religious families who inhabit it and the tensions that exist there --that illuminates the unexpected ways we remain connected during times of change. When Uncle Isaac moves back...

Canadian author.

5

Girl in the blue coat
Hesse, Monica
Paper Book
"A beautiful combination of heartbreak, loss, young love, and hope."―Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale   ★ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ★ Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Mystery Novel...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

6

Une fille au manteau bleu
Hesse, Monica
Paper Book
"A beautiful combination of heartbreak, loss, young love, and hope."―Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale   ★ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ★ Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Mystery Novel...

Aussi disponble en format numerique.

7

Daughters of the Occupation : A Novel of WWII
Sanders, Shelly
Paper Book
Inspired by true events in World War II Latvia, an emotionally charged novel of sacrifice, trauma, resilience, and survival, as witnessed by three generations of women.  On one extraordinary day in 1940, Miriam Talan's comfortable life is shattered. While she gives birth to her second...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

8

Boy from Buchenwald : the true story of a Holocaust survivor
Waisman, Robert
Paper Book
It was 1945 and Romek Wajsman had just been liberated from Buchenwald, a brutal concentration camp where more than 60,000 people were killed. He was starving, tortured, and had no idea where his family was--let alone if they were alive. Along with 472 other boys, including Elie Wiesel, these...

Canadian author.

9

Brazen : my unorthodox journey from long sleeves to lingerie
Haart, Julia
Paper Book
WALL STREET JOURNAL AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER * From the star of the Netflix reality series My Unorthodox Life, a riveting, inspiring memoir of one woman's escape from an extremist religious sect and an extraordinary rise from housewife to shoe designer, to CEO and co...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

10

The power of teamwork : how we can all work better together
Goldman, Brian
Paper Book
The national bestseller from the host of CBC Radio's White Coat, Black Art--now in paperback! In the high-pressure and complex setting of health care, a new approach to teamwork is leading to healthier patients, happier staff and more efficient operations. Doctors are learning art...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

11

Who by fire : Leonard Cohen in the Sinai
Friedman, Matti
Paper Book
"An expedition into the troubled soul of one of the world's greatest songwriters."--Haaretz  "A fascinating and intense account of Leonard Cohen's time in Israel during the 19-day Yom Kippur War of 1973. A must for any Leonard Cohen completist."--Suzanne Vega ...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

12

Friends & enemies : a life in Vogue, prison, & Park Avenue
Amiel, Barbara
Paper Book
Shockingly honest, richly detailed, and pulling no punches, Friends and Enemies traverses the highs and lows of Barbara Amiel's storied life in journalism and high society. From her early childhood in London during the Blitz to emigrating to North America and her...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

13

A boy is not a bird
Ravel, Edeet
Paper Book
A young boy named Natt finds his world overturned when his family is uprooted and exiled to Siberia during the occupation of the Soviet Ukraine by Nazi Germany. In 1941, life in Natt's small town of Zastavna is comfortable and familiar, even if the grownups are acting strange, and his...

Canadian author.

14

Honey and me
Drazin, Meira
Paper Book
Fans of Judy Blume, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, and The Penderwicks will love this funny, charismatic story of a Jewish girl striving to forge her own identity in the shadow of her fearless best friend. **A 2023 Sydney Taylor Award Honor Book!** **A...

15

Osnat and her dove : the true story of the world's first female rabbi
Samuel, Sigal
Paper Book
Osnat was born five hundred years ago - at a time when almost everyone believed in miracles. But very few believed that girls should learn to read. Yet Osnat's father was a great scholar whose house was filled with books. And she convinced him to teach her. Then she in turn grew up...

Canadian author

16

The promise : a story of two sisters, prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp
Bat-Zvi, Pnina
Paper Book
The night that Rachel and Toby's parents are taken away by the Nazis, they give their young daughters three gold coins with the instructions to "use these wisely to help save your lives." They also ask the girls to promise that they will always stay together. This compelling true story follows the...

Canadian author.

17

She's a mensch! : ten amazing Jewish women
Dublin, Anne
Paper Book
From the poorest neighborhoods in Kenya to the halls of the Canadian Supreme Court, the Jewish women found in these pages have accomplished remarkable feats. Some survived the horrors of the Holocaust while others had more peaceful childhoods, but all of them saw unfairness in their world and...

Canadian author.

18

Jew-ish : reinvented recipes from a modern mensch : a cookbook
Cohen, Jake
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller! A brilliantly modern take on Jewish culinary traditions for a new generation of readers, from a bright new star in the culinary world. When you think of Jewish food, a few classics come to mind:...

Also available in eBook format.

19

Rising
Ludwig, Sidura
Paper Book
An Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Honor Book A quiet, joyful story celebrating a Jewish mother's tradition of making challah with her child merges a lyrical text with stunning illustrations--and includes the author's favorite recipe. Melt into the...

Canadian author.

20

Let it glow
Meyer, Marissa
Paper Book
Now a NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestseller! When Aviva Davis and Holly Martin meet at the holiday pageant tryouts for their local senior's center, they think they must be seeing double. While they both knew they were adopted, they had no idea they had a biological sibling,...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

21

By chance alone : a remarkable true story of courage and survival at Auschwitz
Eisen, Max
Paper Book
An award-winning, internationally bestselling Holocaust memoir in the tradition of Elie Wiesel's Night and Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz In the spring of 1944, gendarmes forcibly removed Tibor "Max" Eisen and his family from their home, brought them to a brickyard and eventually...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

22

Two pieces of chocolate
Kacer, Kathy
Paper Book
In 1945, young Francine and her maman are sent to the Bergen-Belsen Nazi prison camp, where life is gray and hopeless. Determined to lift Francine's spirits, Maman shares a secret: hidden inside her bag are two pieces of chocolate. They're the first sweets Francine has seen in years, but Maman...

Canadian author.

23

The woman beyond the sea
Yishai-Levi, Sarit
Paper Book
A mesmerizing novel about three generations of women who have lost each other--and the quest to weave them back into a family. An immersive historical tale spanning the life stories of three women, The Woman Beyond the Sea traces the paths of a daughter, mother, and...

24

The golem of Brooklyn : a novel
Mansbach, Adam
Paper Book
The dazzlingly imaginative, ferociously funny story of an art teacher, a bodega clerk, and a five-thousand-year-old clay crisis monster, from the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Go the F**k to Sleep. "A devastating romp through history, a bonkersroad...

25

Magical meet cute
Meltzer, Jean
Paper Book
"A laugh-out-loud funny romance with depth and heart, readers will love this spellbinding novel!" --Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author Is he the real deal...or did she truly summon a golem? Faye Kaplan used to be...

Also available in eBook and Audiobook format.

26

Heroines, rescuers, rabbis, spies : unsung women of the Holocaust
Swartz, Sarah Silberstein
Paper Book
Discover nine ordinary women who took extraordinary measures to save lives during the Holocaust, resisting terror and torture while undercover or in hiding, in concentration camps, in forests, and in exile. With compassion and admiration, author Sarah Silberstein Swartz paints portraits of...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.


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